Vapor Trail Valkyrie

 

Called out to retrieve a soul found fallen by a backcountry road

a wife frantically pumping the chest of a heart-stuttered man

collapsed sweat slick from mowing meadows

her soft hands slip but she pumps and pumps making his arms wave like weak flags

she mops his face with the hem of a faded housedress

And waits

frantic for the sound of thwapping blades carving through the thick air

she prays for touchdown

skimming the surface of the bubble of their old lives,

perfumed by alcohol rub, jet fuel and sweat

the wife waits for the collection of the full measure of her man

as he struggles to claim ownership of living or dying.

The Bell 407 carries me to her, my stomach slipping like an eel in knots

fumble monitor cables, remember I am supposed to be the expert she is waiting for

to save her man

my heart thrums to the rhythm of strobe lights

We land

on scene where the wife waits for strangers’ hands to answer whispered prayers

to stir the husk of her empty gray breathless man

My jaw sets hard as pig iron and I descend fireproofed, steel hardened

heels planted against a curve of skids

bruising my shins as metal bites into my leg

steadies me and I alight, a fierce vapor trail Valkyrie

snatching mortal and imperfect flesh

to carry upward toward baptism by rotor wash

drunk on the incensed perfume of jet fuel

lit against the stars at five thousand feet

Becca Saul lives and works in South Carolina. She has been a registered nurse in trauma, flight and emergency services since 1999 and became a became an ED nurse practitioner in 2007. She outgrew the ED in 2016 because it was time for something new and now works as a nurse practitioner with adolescent patients living with eating disorders and obesity and providing a safe place for them to open up about mental health.  She spends every spare moment tucking seeds into the earth, scribbling words down trying to breathe life into imaginary worlds, and trying figure out how stuff works. Her work can be found in the Magnolia Review, Barely South Review, orangepeel lit mag and Please See Me. She has been writing as far back as she can remember and hopes to keep writing long after her work with patients is done.